In 2020, with 26 years of teaching experience and 8 years of experience in education supervision, I came to Yanshan No. 2 Primary School in Furong District, Changsha City as the principal. Education has been reforming, and educators, parents and society have always attached great importance to education, but why have education-related problems emerged in recent years? Where should primary education go? What kind of foundation should we lay for cultivating the builders of the motherland and the best people? Based on years of experience in education management, I found that the current education attaches too much importance to students' knowledge and skills, attaches importance to the selection and screening function of education, ignores the growth law of life, lacks respect for life, and does not care enough for the creativity of life.
Since its establishment, Yanshan No. 2 Primary School has always adhered to the "Yan Culture" and "Life Education", I am thinking about the school's culture in inheritance and practice, and in the discussion and exchange with teachers and parent representatives, a topic about stretching has been frequently mentioned: stretching is the posture of swallows flying, and it is also the best state of life, and it is the most beautiful form of education. Isn't that what is missing in today's education ecosystem?
According to the literature, the word "Shu" first appeared in the Jinwen period of the Warring States Period, and the shape is composed of two parts, "She" and "Yu", which indicates the meaning of giving and giving, and the "Tao Te Ching" in "Thinking of people, the more you have; With others, the more self" sentence has the same meaning. In other words, the word "Shu" represents giving and comfort. "Stretching", that is, stretching and opening, not curling up, willing to give, and comfortable appearance, is the ideal posture of every life.
Stretch education, that is, fully respect the subjectivity, generation and uniqueness of life in educational practice, focus on the long-term development of teachers and students' lives, understand, care, trust and fulfill every teacher and student, and strive to make all teachers and students physically and mentally stretched, positive, personalized development and growth, and lay a solid foundation for a happy life. In the past three years, I have led the management team to carry out education and teaching reform and practice around the purpose of "let every life stretch upward", and some subtle changes have taken place in the school.
The campus environment is not only a physical space for teachers and students to learn and live, but also an externalization of the spirit and a representation of culture, and a subtle educational soft power. I have always believed that by endowing environmental construction with spiritual connotations and giving static objects educational aesthetic associations and philosophical reflections, life will be more beautiful and calm.
(1) The construction of the school environment must be based on the perspective of children
Now when you come to the Furong Yuan community, you can see the colorful pillars on the teaching building of Yanshan No. 2 Primary School from afar, red, pink, yellow, green and blue, just like dancing in the air, and the five warm and bright colors are pleasing to the eye. The story behind the colorful pillars is quite tortuous: the colorful pillars were originally five white columns, and since the school opened, they have been covered by the school with a huge color spray painting, which is not small, inconvenient to replace, and lacks beauty.
In the summer of 2023, taking the opportunity of the renovation of the school's exterior wall, we invited color experts from Hunan Normal University to provide on-site diagnosis and guidance. Inspired by the five colors of Changsha's child-friendly city logo, Wucai expresses the school's child-friendly proposition, which not only has a beautiful visual effect, but also implies the simultaneous development of five educations, implies colorful childhood, and implies the personalized growth of every teacher and student and the wonderful bloom of life, with the taste of education! In order to ensure that the color does not deviate, I personally guarded the workers and masters according to the color number provided by the experts one by one, and repeatedly confirmed with the experts before starting to go to the wall, among which the red pillar was reworked and repainted because the color was too dark for the first time. At the beginning of the new semester, the eyes of teachers, students and parents were attracted by the colorful pillars, and they said that as soon as they saw the colorful pillars, they made people feel joyful, and the children would definitely be able to live in this paradise of growth, and love rippled.
(2) The school culture that students can feel is the real culture
Since ancient times, swallows have rich cultural connotations: "a few early warblers compete for warm trees, whose new swallows peck the spring mud", the swallows go to spring in autumn, do not forget the old nest, implying beautiful spring, warmth and perseverance; The swallows in "For the Sticky Spider Tracks, Not Waiting for the Painting of Liang Qi" in the swallow base nest mud and accumulation of inches, implying perseverance, diligence and perseverance; The swallows in "Drizzle Fish Out, Breeze Swallows Slanted" are vigorous and fly freely, implying sunshine, happiness, agility and wisdom; The swallows in "Yanyan is flying, and the swallows are flying" fly together, and you chase me, implying cooperation and sharing, and positivity. It can be seen that the swallows in classical poetry not only have the beauty of natural search, but also have a bright coat color, a tactful voice, and an elegant posture; There is also the beauty of philosophical thoughts, revealing the warm friendship of people and swallows and elegant philosophical speculation.
How can children see, experience and feel the positive Yan culture? We have skillfully integrated Yan culture into the construction of the school's environment and culture and the naming of buildings. Three buildings are built according to Yan: Yanxiang Building, Yanwu Building, and Yanyu Building; Three characteristic gardens are built by Yanqin: the planting area is Yangeng Garden, the reading area is Yanzhi Garden, and the leisure area is Yanqi Garden; A number of characteristic venues are integrated: the lecture hall is Yanji Hall, the badminton hall is Yanyu Hall, the reading room is Yanyaxuan, the psychological counseling room is Yanxin House, the chess room is Yanyi Hall, and Xiaofeiyan TV Station and Xiaofeiyan Children's Palace are cordial and vivid. The school's billboards, signs, mascots, etc., the image of the swallow can be seen everywhere, and the swallow culture is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
Yan Gengyuan. Every flower has its own flowering period, and every seed is worth the wait. Educational evaluation is not for screening and selection, but for awakening and inspiring students to develop better. If the teacher is good at guiding, every child can find their own stage and shine; If teachers are diligent in their work, every child has unlimited potential and a promising future.
(1) Construct a sound comprehensive quality evaluation system
Our school has a relatively complete comprehensive quality evaluation system: from the moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor all-round design evaluation indicators, once a month to select flying students, once a semester to select Golden Swallow students; The Flying Class is selected once a week, and the Golden Swallow Class is selected once a semester. Among them, the evaluation of flying students has been implemented for many years, but I found that the higher the grade, the less attention the children pay to this evaluation, and even some students have basically given up their efforts. I had in-depth conversations with students, teachers, and parents to analyze the reasons, and learned that the students in Feixiang were all in the top three with the highest comprehensive evaluation scores in the class.
In response to this phenomenon, we have further optimized and improved the evaluation system of flying students: first, the classification evaluation, the top three students in the monthly comprehensive score and the two students who have made significant progress can be awarded the title of "flying students", so that every child is full of hope, has the opportunity to succeed, and can maintain a stretched and upward state. The second is to strengthen publicity, and the flying students will publish it in a prominent position outside the school gate every month, so as to stimulate the children's sense of glory and self-confidence, and create a positive atmosphere through role models. The third is to increase the selection of "star swallows", which is an important evaluation measure to pay attention to the unique personalities of children: red star swallows, erudite swallows, industrious swallows, innovative swallows, wisdom swallows, fitness swallows, rule of law swallows, sunshine swallows, scholarly swallows, and art swallows are evolved from the school mascot Feifei and Xiangxiang, which are lively and cute, full of childlike innocence, and are displayed on the big pillars of the wind and rain playground where children have the most frequent activities. When the children walk by, they have to look at it and touch it. "Star Swallow" is very popular among children, which greatly stimulates their motivation to give full play to their interests and specialties, and encourages everyone to find their own shining point and shine uniquely. These optimizations and reforms have activated the life state of students, everyone has the direction and goal of their efforts, the campus is full of vitality and vitality, and the school spirit of "stretching upward" and the school style of "flapping wings and flying" have also been further demonstrated.
The lively and cute "Star Swallow" image.
(2) Replace paper-based tests in lower grades with fun tests
In 2021, the "Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Education on Strengthening the Administration of Examinations in Compulsory Education Schools" clearly stipulates that there will be no paper-and-pencil examinations in the first and second grades of primary school. The first graders have just entered elementary school and are full of novelty about everything. How to make them naturally transition from a game-based kindergarten life to a learning-based primary school life, stimulate students' interest in learning and self-confidence, and ensure the quality of teaching, there must be some reform in teaching evaluation.
As a result, the "Spelling ** Garden Travel" fun test designed for first-grade cute babies came into being. The teachers carefully prepared and decorated Yanzhiyuan into a fairy tale world, which not only brought surprises to the children, but also a full sense of ceremony. Children have to go through the four levels of "Alphabet Island", "Word Street", "Joy Reading Garden" and "Pinyin Magic Castle" in turn. The first-graders lined up in a neat line, smiling faces looking forward curiously, and the sound of reading aloud was intertwined with the laughter of the clearance, sometimes contemplative, sometimes anxious, sometimes excited, ......The teachers patiently and carefully listened to the children's phonics, corrected the pronunciation softly, and encouraged the children to play calmly. Under the guidance of the teacher, the children used their wisdom to easily break through the level, happily went to the "Pinyin Castle", put on the crown, took the magic wand, turned on the "magic" and took pictures. In the process of "playing" and "learning", the children unconsciously enjoy the joy of learning Hanyu Pinyin, experience the joy of success, and reap the fruits of learning.
Pinyin Castle" educator Tao Xingzhi told us: true education is a heart-to-heart activity. We carefully design each educational activity from the perspective of children, so that children can learn in the activities, moving but not chaotic, dynamic and static, and both movement and stillness are appropriate, so that high-quality and warm activities can give their lives a confident background and lay a solid foundation for them to spread their wings and fly in the future.
(1) Let every child participate in school activities
Each child is only one forty-five in the class, but 100 percent in the family, so education must see every child. For large-scale activities, we follow the principle of "everyone participates, everyone blooms", which is deeply loved by parents and students. In the 2022 "Celebration of June 1st Labor Carnival", each of the 33 classes is responsible for an interesting labor project, folding quilts, washing socks, tying hair, nailing buttons, peeling cucumbers, making dumplings, ......Each check-in booth was full of creativity, the children were happy, the campus was boiling, and the parents were smiling. This activity not only stimulated the children's interest in labor, exercised their labor skills, but also improved their interpersonal skills and language expression skills.
The school's all-round series of brand activities of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, art and labor are also colorful, such as the autumn sports meeting of "strengthening the country with me, fitness and inspiration", the class basketball game of "passion blooming, dreams flying", the discipline carnival of "cute subjects, happy growth", the language literacy competition of "love reading and good expression", the carnival of "mathematical thinking games", the "chess king and chess queen competition" and chess cultural festival, class chorus competition, flea market, etc., and will be innovated and optimized according to the actual situation every year. Wonderful activities have also become the children's expectations.
The country has me, and the body is inspirational" Autumn Games.
(2) Make campus life more fortunate
The writer Turgenev said: "The most beautiful thing in life is to pick up the flowers scattered on the side of the road while walking, then your life will be fragrant and beautiful." "The school always takes the needs and preferences of children to heart, and thinks from the perspective of children, so that our deliberateness can be exchanged for children's casual happiness. The osmanthus blooms and scatters all over the ground, and the golden layer is not swept away by the masters, they know that it should be left for the children to appreciate and taste; When it snows, the snow that does not affect the safety of the place will be left as much as possible for the children to have snowball fights; When spring arrived, the science teacher led the children to find tadpoles from the park and release them into the school's lotus pond; The students in the planting group found that the soil in the planting pot was too tight, so under the guidance of the teacher, they dug up earthworms from the outside and raised them in the planting pot to loosen the soil. In 2022, there is an anti-bullying scene in the TV series "The Bottom Line" filmed in our school, where children, parents, and teachers have close contact with celebrities and have a good time getting through the addiction of being actors.
In this way, the children walked alone on the path of their own lives, walking slowly on the embankment of the years, grateful and savoring. Use the seemingly "useless" small luck on campus to nurture the "great use" of teaching and educating people, achieve the children's warm childhood, and make campus life the children's yearning. "Visitors don't understand where the spring is, only choose children to go more", we firmly believe that children are there, happiness is there; Children are there, innocence is there; Where children are, freedom is there.
(3) Warmth can be transmitted
Those who love others will always love them; Those who respect others will always respect them. "Warmth can be transmitted, the school takes the growth of each teacher to heart, and the teacher passes on the warmth and care to the children. There will be several special children in each grade, who are different from most children in personality, intelligence, or body, and we escort their growth through innovative theme activities, so that they can slowly become "warm" people.
In the "Let Me Read to You" activity in which party members and volunteers read good books with special children, school party members and special children read in pairs. After the event, the father of a sixth-grade child who was so naughty that he often had a headache for the teacher sent a thank you message: "Hello, Principal Wang! Thank you to the school for sending such a good book to the child, thank you for valuing this child, encouraging this child, we hope that he can counterattack in his future studies and become a productive person, living up to the expectations of the school, the principal and the teachers. "Mutual trust, mutual fulfillment, and mutual gratitude between home and school make education more warm.
In today's society, children's psychological problems are frequent, and many parents are indifferent to this, and mental health education urgently needs the cooperation of home and school. In April 2023, the school's psychology teaching and research group came up with the idea of forming a parent psychology committee. After careful planning, a solicitation order for parent volunteers for student mental health education was sent to all parents, and parents responded positively and signed up one after another, and the psychological family committee composed of 34 parents with relevant professional knowledge was first established in the province. Immediately afterwards, at the meeting of the members of the Psychological Parent Committee, the members exchanged their views on mental health education. At the training meeting, the members humbly became students and learned the professional methods of mental health education for primary school students.
One day in May 2023, two older boys in the third class of the sixth grade, who often had conflicts, fought again, and Jiang's father, a member of the Psychological Parent Committee, volunteered to communicate with the two children and their parents one by one. In the end, the two children reconciled, and the parents of both sides were very grateful to Jiang's father, and the psychological parent committee became a powerful helper for the school's mental health education.
Psychological Parent Committee.
(4) Teach children for six years and think about children for 60 years
As Mr. Cai Yuanpei said, "Educators are not for the past, not for the present, but for the future." "I often remind teachers that education must be far-sighted, and you can't just label children. Life is a marathon, and no one can be sure of winning or losing until the finish line. Teaching children for six years, thinking about children for sixty years. When the child grows up, the words and deeds of the primary school teacher, every move, are engraved in his memory, your casual words, may inspire his dreams, but may also destroy his hope, we must cultivate their own heart, as a noble person in the child's life.
The end of June is the peak time for graduates to return to their alma mater to visit their teachers. The young homeroom teacher, Mr. Liu, was full of emotion after seeing the students who had given her a headache and performed well in the healthy growth of middle school: Li, who was the most naughty student in the 1404 class, is now among the best in his grades, lively and cheerful and talkative, and he is really pleased and moved by the teacher, and he also wants to praise himself, although he collapsed countless times, he is still willing to lead you all the way, come on, boy! This is the teacher of Yanshan No. 2 Primary School, who does not give up on every child, so that every child enters the school with expectations, walks out of the school gate with hope and longing, and goes to the future.
The curriculum is the runway for students' growth, an important carrier of the school's culture and even the school's proposition, and a continuous source of the school's vitality. We firmly establish the concept of large curriculum, fully tap the curriculum resources, build a curriculum system that is truly conducive to the diversified and personality development of students, and strive to further promote the selectivity and openness of the curriculum, and promote the comprehensive and individual development of students.
The apricot blossoms are blooming, and Yan Fei is busy, which is a good spring. Our school's unique "stretch course system" has been gradually improved, and the courses are divided into five categories: exhibit courses, which cultivate students' good moral character and be "diligent and persevering" Yan Er students, such as ideological and political courses under the national flag and first-grade opening courses; Zhanhui courses develop students' thinking, improve their learning ability, and become "wise and smart" Yaner students, such as children's programming and chess courses; The exhibition course enables students to have a healthy body and a sunny attitude, and to be a "sunny and happy" Yaner student, such as psychological activity week and sports meeting courses; The exhibition of beauty courses allows students to gain the experience of beauty, stimulate imagination and creativity, and be "truth-seeking and beautiful" Yaner students, such as chorus and sand painting courses; The exhibition and labor courses help students learn to live, adapt to the society, improve their practical ability, better realize their own development, and be "cooperative and innovative" Yaner students, such as baking, Yangeng garden planting and other courses.
The children's opening ceremony.
(1) **Make the campus more stretched
* Be a good teacher. It will also take your mind from the hustle and bustle to a quiet land, calming your restless heart. At the end of 2021, Changsha Lin Jiatian's Famous Teacher Studio settled in our school, and four teachers with their own specialties continued to practice the new education system under the guidance of the first college. The "Red Scarf Choir" insists on training three times a week, and with its profound skills and innovative performances, it has appeared on the stage of municipal activities many times, and has a large number of fans among teachers, students and parents. Most of the children in the school love to sing, each class is a choir team, class chorus competition activities, teachers, parents and children perform on the same stage, in the campus of Yanshan No. 2 Primary School, truly interpret the concept of Changsha Lin Jiatian's famous teacher's studio - * make life better, ** let the campus more stretched.
Red Scarf Choir.
(2) Chess is intellectual gymnastics
Our school is a national chess characteristic school. In line with the curriculum concept of "cultivating morality with chess, enlightening wisdom with chess, nurturing character with chess, and enjoying love with chess", the whole school popularizes the national elephant curriculum, and all students can play chess. A competitive team of more than 100 people was formed, won the provincial competition team championship for 8 consecutive years, and kept pace with the times to create a "smart national elephant", and won the first prize of the first Changsha primary and secondary school "Wisdom Star" characteristic course construction case and micro-** course evaluation.
Every year in September, at the opening ceremony of the first grade, the children recited the chess song, and the elder brothers and sisters gave them chess pieces, and I personally opened the chess for them, and the children started a happy game journey with a full sense of ceremony. Wu Borui, a student of the class of 2014, with his strong perseverance and love for chess, won the title of Master of the Chinese Chess Association and successfully entered the ideal middle school after 6 years of chess training. Wang Xingmiao, the younger brother of 7 years of learning, has admired his brother very much since he was a child, and unconsciously fell in love with chess, his happiest time is to play against his brother or meet friends with chess, his mantra is: Come to the next game of chess? In our school, children can often be seen playing in pairs between recess, in the corridor, and under the shade of trees. Back home, some brothers and sisters play against each other, and some parents can also fight with their children. Chess helps children improve their understanding, opens the door to wisdom, and brings children high-level happiness from thinking.
Jinyan Cup Chess Competition.
(3) Campus junior judges cultivate law-abiding citizens
**The general secretary emphasized: It is necessary to adhere to the rule of law education starting from the child. Our school is a characteristic school of legal education in Changsha, surrounded by rich legal education resources such as the Provincial High People's Court and the Provincial People's Procuratorate. The school carries out experiential rule of law education, such as "I am a junior judge", mock courts, judges entering the campus and other activities, so that students can "know the law, understand the law, and abide by the law" from an early age. Around December 4, the annual "National Legal Publicity Day", the school's "little judges" are particularly busy because their moot court is about to be ***. Look, in a lawsuit of "minors buy game currency and their parents sue for refund", after the clerk Qin read out the court discipline, as the gavel in the hands of the presiding judge Nie solemnly fell, the "plaintiff" and "defendant" began to make fierce statements and debates, and the realistic trial scene attracted the "mass indignation" of the small audience in the audience, and the serious "bailiffs" on the scene quickly attacked and took away the two observers who tried to disrupt the trial. A parent of a senior judge commented: This kind of mock court, the situation is real and the interpretation is vivid, so that the awareness and thinking of the rule of law can take root in the hearts of the children.
In recent years, children have felt the majesty of the law in mock courts for theft, school bullying, traffic safety, intentional injury and other cases, planted the seeds of the rule of law in their hearts, cultivated a sense of awe, and knew how to "do not take evil as small".
Moot court. (4) Reading lays a spiritual background for children's lives
It has been said that all subject teachers should become the seeds of reading, and the principal's bookcase contains the future of the school. Our school has always attached great importance to reading, and is an "excellent scholarly campus" in Furong District and a "scholarly campus" in Hunan Province. Each class is equipped with a book corner, and each floor of the teaching building is equipped with a reading corner, equipped with a number of shared reading machines and electronic book cabinets, and the combination of paper and electronic reading makes it common for students to read anytime and anywhere.
At the beginning of the event, I led the administrative staff to read and share "A Brief History of the Future of Education" at the all-teacher conference, and the president of the parent committee read out the revised "Scholarly Family Initiative" jointly drafted and revised by the school and the president at the parents' meeting of the whole school. Liang Xiao, a third-grader, said in her bookish teenage tweet, "When we finish reading a book, a light will come and slowly gather together, really like a sparkling candy." I know that the grass is green grass, the blue sky is the blue sky, and the green silk is black hair. In order to let me know about 'cyan', a color that likes to change and does not follow the rules at all, my father even bought me a copy of "A Brief History of Cyan".
The in-depth research of reading topics at all levels has made the scholarly campus more profound, the school's municipal planning project "Reading Strategy Unit Whole Group Teaching Research" and the provincial sub-project "Whole Book Reading Strategy Research" have further innovated and implemented reading, and the whole book reading promotion manual of "Yanrun Book House" compiled by Chinese teachers has been promoted in the district reading exchange activities, and the research results of the whole book reading strategy have been promoted to the whole city. Reading lays a spiritual background for children's lives, and also becomes the background color of teachers' lives and school development.
Yanrun Scholarly" theme reading activity.
In the late days, the rivers and mountains are beautiful, and the spring breeze is fragrant with flowers and plants. The mud melts and flies the swallows, and the sand warms the mandarin ducks. "This is the most beautiful world in the pen of the poet Du Fu, and it is also the most beautiful spring in the hearts of the Chinese. It is hoped that Yanshan No. 2 Primary School can become the alma mater of the children with warm memories and the spiritual home of the children's attachment, just like a simple and pure water lotus, blooming in the children's memory. It is hoped that every child who goes out from here will take off, stretch upward, and fly with the warmth and confidence of his alma mater, and become a useful talent who can adapt to the needs of the future society with physical and mental stretch and sound personality.
Fun group photo of the principal and the children.
Note: This article was published in the 2024 2024 column of the New Curriculum Review.
Text |Wang Zefang.
Secretary of the Party General Branch of Datong Primary School, Furong District, Changsha City.
Principal of Yanshan No. 2 Xiaoyuan, Furong District, Changsha City**10,000 Fans Incentive Plan